Friday, 26 August 2011

Autumn Sewing Plans

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my last post. It’s good to know it’s not just me that gets excited by a fast bit of sewing trickery! And hello to everybody who’s hopped over to read my blog for the first time – nice to meet you!

With one more week of the summer holidays left, I’ve been thinking about autumn sewing a lot recently. I’ve got a busy couple of months ahead. I’m selling my wares at two craft fairs and have a large order of wash bags to fulfil! Although pre-Christmas is probably the most lucrative time to sell, I’m trying to be realistic about how much time I’ll have to make stock AND make myself some autumn clothes. Consequently, my autumn sewing list has had to be realistic too. I’m keeping it simple and trying to use up as much of my fabric stash as I can….

Autumn shirt dress

I’ve only ever read good things from other sewing bloggers about Lisette patterns and view A of this shirt dress is definitely the one with my name on it. I’m taking a bit of a gamble and using my 1930’s look flowered charity shop fabric.

It could be a floral overload and some of the colours aren't really me (purple and orange?!) but I'll give it a go….

Sailor trousers

I desperately need another pair of trousers as my 1940’s wide legged ones are starting to get a bit bobbly with overuse. As soon as I saw this Flickr picture of Christi’s I knew I had to have a pair. I’m using Simplicity 2654, which looks a bit frumpy, but I’m hoping that once I’ve shamelessly copied Christi and added buttons it will have more of a retro look.

Fabric-wise I’m going to use a blue/black twill (or is that drill? I’m not sure) which I bought because of its lovely drape. When I washed it recently though, it came out of the machine practically dry – just like a football kit – which makes me think there’s more than a little polyester in the mix! Hopefully they won’t look too shiny. And before you pull me up on it, I'm not making another pair of navy trousers, blue/black is a different colour entirely.…

Grey wool jacket

I’m going to use my charity shop grey wool for my first attempt at a jacket, matched with a lovely teal coloured lining fabric.

I’ll probably only get round to making the muslin this side of Christmas but that’s fine.

I’m planning to make a plain collared jacket with princess seams using a pattern from this Built by Wendy book. I've been so impressed with this book and hopefully it will be a good starting point for a jacket rookie like myself. It goes through each step in a really thorough way: from tracing your initial pattern to sewing each seam and adding the lining. There’s also a troubleshooting section for fitting which will be useful.

On the reserve list is a black Beignet and a cord Ginger skirt but they can also wait until the other side of Christmas. It's now official, I'm getting an overlocker for Christmas (hoorah, hoorah, hoorah!!!) so there’s a whole different list of knit and stretch projects lined up for after I’ve worked out how to use it (gulp).

I’ve had the most lovely, chilled out summer with my boys, but after the initial wrench of them going back to school, I’ll be very pleased to get back to my machine! Have a good week. x

Ooh I just bought that Lisette pattern. Hoping it will be a keeper once I've done a FBA on it. I think your flowery fabric is a good choice as the outline of the dress is so simple and you can pick some nice coloured buttons to make it pop.

I've just posted about making a cape, Autumnal sewing must be in the air... probably the terrible weather!

Great plans, I can't wait to see how the trousers turn out and the idea of a grey wool coat with teal lining is fabulous! We have 2 weeks still to go, I'm ready for them to go back now, much as I love having such relaxed days and spending time with my boys. Bethx

I like your approach--you've got a plan, but it doesn't sound too overwhelming. I've been thinking I might need a shirt dress for fall, too. A print like yours will be great for mixing and matching with different colored cardigans and tights.

I had also seen those trousers and loved them but you are right, the pattern illustration doesn't do any favours. I look forward to see all these lovely items made. And good luck with your craft fairs, you need to let us know where they are.

Yay, my pants! :D These pants get the most love out of everything I've made I think. Which is great since I love the heck out of them and have made several things from this pattern. I actually just uploaded another picture today of another pair of shorts from this pattern. I think the frumplestiltskin pattern cover really hurts this pattern.

Can't wait to see your Lisette dress. I have one of those lined up in my queue as well. I hope the floral looks great, I'm always worried about floral overload too!

Jane what lovely plans. I love the floral fabric and have thought the lisette shirtdress looks lovely. But of biggest interest to me is the bbw jacket. I am drawn to many in this book and can't make up my mind! Exciting to see what you make :-)